Saturday, June 29, 2013

We've Been Promised: No Wandering in Wonderland!

Did you know Once Upon A Time in Wonderland is a LIMITED new series? Meaning, it's not supposed to continue forever but instead have a beginning, a middle and AN END?

*eyebrows raised in an "I'll believe it when I see it" fashion*

Yet we've been promised: there will be no wandering about in Wonderland just for the heck of it.

From OUAT

By "no wandering" I mean, show creators Horowitz and Kitsis have promised there will be NO FILLER EPISODES for Once Upon A Time in Wonderland. (Wut? But these are the Lost boys...)

Apparently they're so happy with the response to a show that hasn't even aired yet that they've ordered more episodes but are crossing their hearts that they "kick their bad habit of unnecessary plot dwindling", as iO9 put it.

(Seriously? These are the creators of Lost... )

So what does that mean? It means the entire story is to be plotted in advance.

When Wonderland was announced as a limited series in May, it received 13 episodes — the standard order for a new drama... But Wonderland creators Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis have a different vision for this show: a self-contained epic romance that’s planned in advance from start to finish — no filler! [Edit FTNH: emphasis mine.] That means there will be no additional episodes ordered for the season beyond the first order, so the showrunners can break down the entire story before the first episode ever airs. That’s why there are more episodes being ordered now-ish, because the writers have figured out how many hours they need.“We really want to tell the story without having to worry about how to stretch it for five years,” Kitsis tells EW. “The upfront order will be it for the season.” Horowitz adds, “This is not meant to be a 22-episode season. Whatever it ends up being, we’ll have told a complete story, with a beginning, middle and end.”

A Wonderland Romance

But, but... these are the creators of Lost!

Hold on... I have further clarification: "limited" doesn't quite mean what we (would normally) think it means...

Wonderland has been called an “anthology” series and “limited” series. Neither is precisely correct.

I KNEW it!

It’s only “limited” in terms of the first season telling a close-ended story in less than 22 episodes, not because ABC and the showrunners wouldn’t do more seasons (ABC executives may be willing to get a little creative with Wonderland, but they’re not Mad Hatters — a hit is a hit). ABC will renew the show for another close-ended adventure if the show is a success. [Edit FTNH: emphasis mine.]But unlike an anthology series — such as American Horror Story, which tells an entirely new story each season with new characters — Wonderland is expected to continue using most of the same characters. “If the audience responds and people love these characters, the plan would be to bring it back next year and tell a whole new story,” Horowitz says.Put another way: Wonderland is sort of like a fairytale version of 24 — a heavily serialized drama with stand-alone seasons using the same core cast (only with fewer rogue nukes, presumably).

Ah. That sounds like the showrunners we're familiar with. *eyebrows return to their rightful places*